County website nearly finished

ARENAC COUNTY — Arenac County citizens will soon be able to get forms and information at the click of a mouse, according to Arenac County Commissioner Joe Sancimino, with the Arenac County government website nearing complete.

The new website is already up and accessible, though not every page on it is complete. Nevertheless, Sancimino said there is already a lot of information on there.

“You can get tax forms on there; if you go to the equalization page you can get property descriptions,” Sancimino said. “The county commissioner’s page has the yearly budget and monthly budget reports, and meeting minutes.”

“On the whole, you’re getting a lot more information than before,” Sancimino added.

The site also features deed information, tax information, the county’s master development plan, and contact information for each of the county departments and officials, he said. It includes links to the AuGres and Standish Chambers of Commerce.

Down the line, Sancimino said he wants people to be able to fill out forms on the website itself, without the need to download or print them out.

Sancimino explained each county department is responsible for its own page on the website. If a page is out of date or broken, people will be able to complain directly to the department to get it updated.

Residents can help update the pages as well. Sancimino said there is a photo gallery on the website, and it is taking submissions.

“We are asking residents to submit pictures taken in the county,” Sancimino said.

There are some disappointments in Sancimino’s eyes. He had hoped to upload the video recordings of Arenac County Board of Commissioners meetings to the website, but the camera recording policy was changed at the beginning of 2012, and taping meetings is no longer mandatory.

As a result, the meetings have not been video recorded, and Sancimino considered this a bad idea.

“It’s something done by many counties and townships,” Sancimino said. “It’ll become an issue in the future.”

The recording rule change occurred on Jan. 5 in a 3-2 vote, with Sancimino and Arenac County Commission Chairman Mike Snyder opposing the change.

On the whole, however, he believed the website will be able to provide residents with more county government information than they ever had before.

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